Dr Laporta obtained his medical degree from McGill University in 1977. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine and Respirology at McGill (1982), where he also completed a Fellowship in Respirology under Drs A. Grassino and J. Milic Emili in 1984.

After joining the Department of Medicine and the Intensive Care Unit at the Jewish General Hospital in 1984, he participated in numerous hospital committees as a member of the Council of Physicians, Pharmacists and Dentists. He acted as Chief for the Department of Adult Critical Care from 1999 to 2009. During this time, he was the founding President of the Québec Society of Intensivists (QSI) (2003-2009) and participated actively in the development of critical care in Québec. Since then, he maintains an active role in the practice and organization of critical care in Québec, and is currently the McGill RUIS representative on the Critical Care Advisory Committee to the Québec Health Ministry (GÉSIQ, groupe d’experts en soins intensifs du Québec).

His interest in education include teaching bedside ultrasound and medical simulation. He was a member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Specialty Committee for Critical Care Medicine (2005-2009). Since 2003, he has been a faculty member of the Canadian ICU Collaborative and the Canadian Patient Safety Institute’s "Safer Health Care Now" campaign. He is also a collaborator in the Canadian Critical Care Vital Signs Monitor Group which promotes quality improvement in Canadian ICUs through the reporting of national clinical indicators.

Currently focused on improving the care of mechanically ventilated ICU patients through i) prevention and management of ventilator-associated pneumonia , and ii) changing the paradigms for sedation, analgesia, and delirium screening.